Cacau nets two in Germany win

(GSM) – Cacau scored his first two goals for Germany on Thursday as Die Mannschaft scored a 3-0 friendly victory over Malta in Innsbruck.

The match gave manager Joachim Löw a chance to view the depth of his team as several regulars are still with Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen, and others were given rest.

After an early spell of pressure, the Germans got on the board in the 16th minute when debutant Dennis Aogo’s left-wing cross found Cacau in the center of the area for a powerful header past Malta goalkeeper Justin Haber.

Six minutes later, it could have been 2-0 when Toni Kroos had a point-blank shot denied by a sprawling Haber, and Stefan Kießling hit a 10-yard header right at the keeper four minutes later.

The pressure only increased after the break, and Cacau had a second in the 58th minute when he fired home from inside the area after a feed by Lukas Podolski.

Three minutes later, it was another Podolski effort causing trouble as his shot in on goal was directed in by Malta defender Kenneth Scicluna for the own goal.

The match also saw Löw hand debuts to Mats Hummels, Kevin Großkreutz and Stefan Reinartz, though none of the three are in his 27-man preliminary World Cup squad.

Germany’s next warm-up will come on 29 May when they take a full squad to Budapest for a friendly against Hungary.